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Parallels we have seen before!

The symbolic crossing of the 38th parallel
The leaders of the Koreas cajoling each other
to cross the coveted line. ©FG
The world is pleased with the symbolic crossing of two brothers, brothers-in-arms, who, for the good 60 over years were hawkishly looking after each other with scorn over the 38th parallel. The arbitrary line set up in a wishy-washy way in 1955 after a feud which was heading nowhere. Instigated by cheering and doomsday prophets from the world over, the siblings spotted tangential growths of gargantuan proportions, so we are made to believe.

Bear in mind, the world should not be too complacent that everything would be hunky dory from now on. Remember, the euphoria after the fall of Berlin Wall did not last enough for the world to forget the dark years of the Cold War.

Lest not we forget the generally great vibes that Neville Chamberlain got after his meeting with the soon to Führer of the Reich. And the faux pas that followed as Germany invaded Poland before the ink dried above the dotted lines.

After the Second World War, in their infant post-liberation, two metamorphosed giants of Asia, India with its struggling democracy and China with its bumbling communist dictatorship decided to prosper together in a collaboration which came to be mocked as "Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai" (India and China are brothers). Unfortunately, both nations had different notions of prosperity; India via mutual cooperation and industrialisation whilst the Middle Kingdom thought that their revolution was the answer to the world's problems.

But see what happened? Lowering their shields, Bharat soon realised that their newfound kinsmen had run over to take over part of their territory. The tension of this 1962 event lingers to date.

North Korea had always been by the world as an appendage of Red China. Is the visit to the Southern counterpart just a front for them to tone down the defence to aid the nefarious activities of their Big Brother?

Is it the lull before the storm? The settling of a storm in a teacup? Should we be worried? Well, history tells us to be.
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